The wedding was to take place right after sundown in the Crystal Ballroom. When the three new friends arrived in town, they learned where the ballroom was and parted company until wedding time, each of them needing to be alone for a while with his private thoughts and feelings before plunging into the big celebrations
Since Mwana couldn't wish himself into any money. Dominic gave him a gold piece to buy clothing suitable for the party. Phineas, fortunately, when he started his sleepwalk, and the unconscious good sense to stuff some bios in the pocket of his nightshirt.
"See you at eight," said Dominic.
"Ta-ta," said Phineas.
"Don't forget to be there," said Mwana. "You're my only friends in this country." And each went off in a different direction. After a little time walking and thinking, Dominic decided to smell out Grandville, his usual practice in towns he was visiting for the first time. He raced up and down avenues and alleys, rubbed himself against various poles, lampposts, cornerstones, and trees, inquired about the population and the town's history—how many members of each species it contained, the birth rate, when the town was founded and by whom, and why looked up the oldest landmarks, smelled them carefully, asked about the climate at different times of the year, learned what the salary of schoolteachers was, and the price of tangerines, and soon knew more about the town than many who had spent a lifetime there. He saw banners announcing the wedding and overheard on a street corner some details of the lavish preparations. Barney certainly wasn't being stingy with the wealth he had come by so easily.
Dominic dropped into a barbershop run by a talkative pig named Angel Hoag, introduced himself, and sat in the chair.
"Not the Dominic!" said Mr. Hoag. Since Dominic was convinced he was the only Dominic around, and felt rather special even in his modest moments, he had to acknowledge that he was the Dominic, which of course he was.
"Happy to make your aqcaintance. What can I do for you?" beamed Mr. Hoag. Dominic got a body shampoo, a hot towel on the ears and snout, and a very pleasant sprinkle of fur tonic. He gave Mr. Hoag a gold piece for his troubles, and saying, "Keep the change. I hope I'll see you at the wedding," he left. After that, he bought a beautiful green velvet outfit in which he was sure of not being inconspicuous.
When Dominic, in the tailor's dressing room, was transferring his old clothes to the bandanna, he took out the doll he had recently found and sniffed it with intense pleasure. Again his heart was pierced with a yearning he didn't understand. He replaced the doll in the bandanna, and left, bidding a good day to the tailor, a ram named Beerbohm Hemlock, who was also going to the wedding, Dominic being his last customer of the day.
There were still two hours to go. Dominic was no so impatient for the forthcoming event that he just had to keep moving. He hastened about the town once more, sniffing here and there, increasing his store of olfactory information, searching out whatever details of Grandville he had previously missed. Then he went to study the outskirts, circled the town a few times, this way and that, and finally sat down under a tree to rest briefly.
He remembered the doll again and his restlessness vanished. He unwrapped it and held it tenderly in his arms. The little puppy with the shoe-button eyes was quite soiled and damaged from years of handling. It was a run-of-the-mill, worn-with-use doll, and yet it held such magic for him. What was there about this lost plaything that he cared for so intensely? Why did it make him dream of things to come? Sitting with the doll in the rosy light of the setting sun, he knew he would be pleased with his future. He fell into a reverie and was no longer conscious of his surroundings or if passing time. Images of tender April flowers on soft hillsides, of limpid minty looks in sweet, purling brooks, of hushed, fern-filled m, aromatic firsts, of benign, embracing breezes and affectionate skies, of a peaceable world of happy creature passed before his mind's eye.
Suddenly he realized he was late for the wedding. It was already night, with another unusual moon. He heard the town bells ring out nine o' clock—he hadn't noticed when they rang eight—and hastened into town.
